


Seeing Red

by ChestnutBrumby



Series: Sweet Dreams - Scarlet Vision ficlets [25]
Category: Captain America (Movies), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Back into action, F/M, Other, Ross is up to no good, here we go folks, scarlet vision - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 12:52:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8402455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChestnutBrumby/pseuds/ChestnutBrumby
Summary: Nothing ever stays the same... Vision is recovering well, though he doesn't know if he has Wanda or Wakanda to thank for that. One Scarlet Witch is starting to rediscover what's amazing about life. Steve is just waiting for a chance to wake up his best friend, while his other best friend has his back. Scott is learning what it is to be part of a team. T'Challa is balancing being a King and an Avenger. Back home, Sharon hasn't forgotten what went down in Berlin, so she joins forces with the formidable Maria Hill.   Then Tony Stark goes missing and it looks like the team might just have to go get him back - but the secrets of the past cannot stay secrets forever. Rules will be broken, fortunes will be forged, and loyalty will be pushed to the limits, when some start seeing red...





	1. Chapter 1

Vision sat before Steve and Sam, carefully voicing the feedback requested of him. He had been expecting the request sooner, and he wondered if they had held off due to the memory issues he'd experienced since his capture at the hands of the NSA.   
  
Though both Sam and Steve looked relaxed, Vision had trained alongside them both for a year, he knew their subtle tells and concealed attentiveness, the sharp edge to Sam and the quiet watchfulness of Steve. This would appear to most to be a casual conversation, but Vision knew better. He was being tested - neither man, after Vision's siding with Tony Stark, fully trusted him.   
  
He was surprised, even after everything that he'd been through, to find that thought troubled him.

T'Challa sources were good, but there were some things news anchors and covert reports left out - the eyewitness tale of an active Avenger who had, up until recently, been living in New York.    
  
"Given that Mr. Stark was one of the first Avengers to make himself known publicly and has remained, sometimes notoriously in the spotlight since then, there is the expected requisite of support for his side." Vision began carefully. "But there's also a wide sway of public support for the Avengers, and for Sergeant Barnes' fair treatment, in formation. This has occurred since Agent Hill worked in tandem with Agent Sharon Carter to publicly release the files Secretary Ross opted to keep private. They exposed Zemo's manipulation and the government's initial decision to kill the Sergeant on sight."   
  
Steve exchanged looks with Sam. "Some people are sympathizing with Bucky?"   
  
"The general public knew of him as a Howling Commando. It appears that favourable history is working, in part, to contour his negative appearances as the Winter Soldier. A female banker from New York is one of the primary founders of the most vocal group. This is their logo." Vision quickly drew a flawless representation on a notepad.  Steve stared wordlessly down at the star within a star - red within white. The circular background was half blue and half gunmetal grey lines. His and Bucky's colours.     
  
"Wow." Sam squinted at the image. "Are they going to be disappointed when they see his new arm doesn't have a star. That's gotta ruin somebody's day."   
  
Steve didn't respond to his friend's joking, his gaze distant. He was thinking about Sharon... who, after waiting so long, surely should have given up on him a hundred times over. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve the loyalty of the Carter women. The thought brought Peggy to mind with a sharp ache. He'd never had a chance to really grieve for her properly, with everything that had happened after her death. How he valued the words Sharon had spoke at her funeral. How he wished she was still here to provide her unique Peggy logic, sharp of tongue and sharper of wit, always doing what was right.  
  
He'd learned that from her - integrity.   
  
Sam glanced over at his best friend, reading his distant expression. He took over Vision's questioning, asking about Tony and Rhodes and how they were coping. Steve sat in a conference room in the African jungle, his heart a thousand miles away. 


	2. Chapter 2

Wanda shot a hex bolt at her opponent, who deftly ducked under the scarlet energy bolt and apparently vanished in the undergrowth to his right. Wanda paused, the way she'd been trained, assessing. She pictured Natasha at her left shoulder - don't rush it. Trust your instincts. Her telepathic powers sought outwards, pinpointing his location.   
  
With a flick of her wrist she levitated leaves, twigs and small bushes alike, leaving no cover and revealing the man crouched impossibly low to the ground. He realized a split second after what had happened and leaped upright, but Wanda was ready and trapped him within a scarlet net, reeling him in with a small smirk on her features.   
  
She reached out and rapped her opponent lightly on his vibarnium-laced helmet, and a loud buzzer sounded. Wanda whooped and levitated her victim into the air.   
  
"That's three out of three to Wanda." announced Sam, sounding both impressed and smug. Scott groaned and put his head in his hands. "Sparrow, why did I bet against you?" He lamented, while Sam grinned widely, jogging in place in a ridiculous little victory dance. Wanda smirked up at Scott from the training room and wiggled her fingers teasingly. "I think you mean, why did you bet against _me_."   
  
"Pardon the interruption, Wanda, but perhaps you could allow me to return to ground level?" T'Challa reminded her politely from where he was still suspended a good ten feet off the ground in Wanda's net.   
  
"Oh, sorry." She waved her hand and dissipated the net. T'Challa dropped and landed lightly on the balls of his feet. The Black Panther strode lithely over to Wanda and stretched a hand out to her, which after a moment's hesitation she accepted and shook warmly. "A good battle." T'Challa congratulated her, and she smiled and returned the words in agreement.     
  
Wanda made her way from the training room as her adrenaline faded, leaving only the fainter but still pleasant buzz of victory. When she saw who was leaning on the corridor outside the training area, she beamed and threw her arms readily around him.   
  
"Hey." She murmured, fastening her fingers into his button-up shirtfront to pull him close for a kiss. Vision looked surprised but certainly not displeased at the spontaneous gesture, returning the pressure of her lips against his with his unique blend of eager shyness that got under Wanda's skin so readily.    
  
Scott and Sam clattered loudly out into the corridor behind them. There was an 'aww' and a pointed throat clear from each man (respectively) before the couple broke apart. Vision kept her hand in his as they joined the two walking towards the palace, Wanda mediating as Sam and Scott heatedly debated who had won out of their own sparring session. When Vision stumbled - _unheard_ of for him - then halted, Wanda reached for him in surprise. Sam and Scott carrying on for a few steps before they realized something was up.  
  
"Vis?" Wanda questioned, alarmed by the troubled look in his usually serene eyes. He turned towards her, projecting his thoughts wordlessly and showing her was his internal systems had alerted him to. Wanda frowned, brows drawing low over her eyes. Equally confused, their teammates looked from one to the other, Scott twitching in impatience.    
  
" _You guys_!" Steve's shout was concerned. "Get in here, you should see this!"  
  
"Vis and I already have." Wanda replied grimly. "What do you think it means?"   
  
"Helloooo?" Scott waved his hand and even eternally patient Sam grunted. "Care to explain to us mere mortals what's happening?"   
  
"It's Tony." Steve replied. "He's gone missing."    
  
In the small, round-tabled room they used as a conference room the Avengers based in Wakanda swiftly gathered. Bucky was awakened and a secure connection was established to Clint and Natasha, safe with his family at an undisclosed location in the U.S. Scott's fingers drummed nervously on the tabletop, but nobody present said anything, used to his nervous habits. Bucky never spoke much when he was first awakened, but today he was noticeable silent as he sat, holding in his metal hand the logo Vision had drawn the previous day.   
  
To Wanda, this was almost familiar, even if she felt a pang of sadness that Rhodes was missing. This was the sort of thing they had done over and over during her first year as an Avenger, sitting down figuring out as a team how best to solve a problem.   
  
"Clint, have you got any news we haven't seen about this?" Steve asked the archer. On the screen projecting his face, his head shook. "Lid on this one's so tight a Hulk couldn't open it. Ross seems to be behind the blackout."   
  
"Why wouldn't Ross want the public to know about Stark vanishing?" Scott questioned. Bucky grunted in agreement. "Repeat how Zemo found me. Get the whole world looking."   
  
"That's right, and _everyone_ knows Tony Stark." Nat agreed. Wanda frowned. "Are we forgetting what Ross did to Vision?" She reminded them accusingly. Vision was still uncomfortable with the topic - he had undergone memory loss, physical injury, and bouts of headaches, nausea and loss of coordination since a period of forced experimentation by the NSA.   
  
"We never proved there was any link between Ross and the NSA. We know how many HYDRA agents were in the facility when Vision was rescued, it could have been them." Steve pointed out. Vision shifted minutely in his chair, and Wanda gripped his fingers under the table.   
  
"Is that Ross?" Bucky extended a hand and frowned at the image of Ross that had been brought up on a holo-screen nearby. He went very still in that way he had when something was causing him distress. Steve looked sharply over at him. "Buck?"   
  
"That is Colonel Ross." Vision confirmed, though there was a faint strain to his voice. Bucky stayed still, the tension in the room rising like the tide ebbing up the beach.   
  
"I've seen him before." He stated, sure and suspicious. His unease spread from him to Steve, then Wanda, and on to Vision in a chain reaction. Steve broke the silence. "He was in Berlin. You might have seen him then." He pointed out, but like everybody at the table, they'd all realized some deeper significance to Bucky's memory.   
  
Nobody sitting at this table believed in coincidence.   
  
Bucky winced as he fought his memories. Recall happened only at painful cost - though the programmed triggers had been removed, the countless times he had been electrocuted and the damage done to his memories could not be so easily repaired.  
  
"It was Berlin." Surprise etched his features. "He... brought Zemo, when he was pretending to be the psychiatrist. He didn't come into my cell room, but I saw his face reflected through the door. He was there. He was standing right beside Zemo."   
  
Silence.   
  
"What are the odds Ross was taken in like everybody else?" Steve asked slowly, as dread set in.   
  
"Remote." Vision confirmed coldly, as his sharp mind did the maths, ran back through the facts and figures. "I think it's worse than we know."   
  
"It usually is." Wanda mentioned, grimly, nodding at Vision to explain what she'd already seen in his head.   
  
"One of the assignments Mr. Stark tasked me with was tracking Dr Banner's whereabouts. At the time, I was baffled that there was no record of his location - I assumed he had gone somewhere 'off the grid'. Remote enough that modern technology simply had no way to locate him. I now fear that assumption was correct, only not in the manner I expected."     
  
Natasha's head snapped towards Vision. "He got rid of Banner? How?!"   
  
"I do not know. Though I could not find concrete proof, I had my suspicions that Ross was covering up his disappearance. I knew he had a vested interest in Dr. Banner's whereabouts, with stakes just as high as Mr. Stark's. I found circumstantial evidence that he planted the Quinjet that turned out to be a dead end. At the time, Mr. Stark dismissed my suspicions."   
  
"But now..." Prompted T'Challa. Vision looked around the room levelly. "I have little doubt that Ross is involved deeper than any of us realize. He may be why nobody had heard form Dr. Banner since the Ultron incident."   
  
"So." Steve exhaled, the inhaled deeply. "What do we do?"  
  
"I sort of thought that was up to you to decide, Captain." Sam pointed out. Steve smiled sadly. "I'm not a Captain anymore."   
  
"You're still our leader." Natasha pointed out, her ever-present loyalty to Steve still very much in evidence.   
  
"This isn't a decision any one of us can make for the others." Steve stated firmly. "Going back to the U.S. to look for Tony - that means fugitive status for all of us, except maybe T'Challa and Vision. Nat and Clint can vouch for how difficult that life is. I'm not ordering any of you to do this."        
    
Sam stretched his hands over his head, deceptively casual. "That's the thing, Steve. You know you never have to. I go where you go, just slower, remember?"   
  
"I'm in." Wanda agreed, earning a surprised look from Vision, who intimately understood her feelings in regards to Tony Stark. "Then I too, will come." He stated quietly, clutching Wanda's hand. He knew, eventually, that this time had to arrive, that he couldn't hide from his fears and from the past for the remainder of his days. But his peaceful days with Wanda had lulled him into a false security, a sort of nullifying blanket that things could continue this way indefinitely... even though logically, he understood they could not.   
  
"You guys aren't leaving me out. Hiding from the law isn't anything new to me. I'll give you pointers." Scott offered.   
  
"Clint, Nat?" Steve checked. There was a snort from Natasha and an eyeroll from Clint. "Come on man, we're insulted you even have to ask."   
  
Steve turned to T'Challa, who dipped his head. "I too Captain, will accompany you. There may come a point where some diplomacy is called for."   
  
Nat tilted her head in the monitor. "I didn't think you usually stress diplomacy, T'Challa."   
  
He smiled, with absolutely no humour in the expression. "No. I do not."      
  
  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I should be working on _All the boys love Wanda Maximoff_ , I'm certainly not giving up on that one, but this is the beginning of a more involved work with something that hopefully resembles a plot more than my usual fluff-bunny Scarlet Vision fics. I hope you guys enjoy it!


End file.
